alco-poll

When I was growing up, and we were poor (and lived between the cracks in the plaster on the poor house wall), the only alco-hol that ever came into our house was a bottle of Harvey's Bristol Cream at Christmas.

My parents would also buy one cardboard crate of poky pola at christmas. I used to drink it through a straw and feel myself getting high. The only other time we got poky pola was FA Cup Final day.

As we got richer and various kids left home, or got jobs and began to pay rent, alcohol appeared at other times. Like a bottle of 99p Normandy Cider for Sunday lunch. Then at xmas we started having things like Advocaat (for Snowballs) and Whisky Macs and Bacardi and Poke.

My own first alcoholic beverage was partaken of at the Who's concert at Wemberley, 1978. It was the only sustenance I had for the entire day. We shared a gallon bottle of cider between us. I didn't feel drunk at all, but I did lose about a stone.

When I got my first job, I went cock-a-tail crazy and bought a load of spirits and mixers to go along with my Vogue cocktail book. But I never really mixed anything I liked, and there's no cocktail better than a whisky mac.